The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for providing various types of information to one or more occupants of a motor vehicle.
Vehicle computer systems frequently contain an output for displaying information to an occupant of the vehicle. Also, these systems typically allow for interaction, via an input, with the occupant that affects the information displayed on the output. For example, by pressing one or more input keys, an occupant may navigate through a menu structure in a navigation program in order to display a desired map on an output screen.
To prevent a driver of a vehicle from interacting with these computer systems while the vehicle is in motion, a xe2x80x9clock outxe2x80x9d feature can be employed. Typically, these features disable the entire computer system, thereby preventing all interaction by the driver while the vehicle is in motion. This complete disabling of the system is undesirable, however, because it bars access to all information, even that which requires only a minimal level of interaction by the driver.
Initial attempts at providing a limited level of access to information while driving have been made. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,345 to Beckert, et al., for DISPLAYING COMPUTER INFORMATION TO A DRIVER OF A VEHICLE describes a vehicle computer system that allows applications to distinguish between driving and non-driving related information, and subsequently allows the display of only driving related information while the vehicle is in motion. Unfortunately, the system completely locks out all functions not related to driving, such as displaying entertainment related media and information.
The present invention provides a vehicle computer system that communicates information of various types to an occupant of the vehicle even while the vehicle is in motion. The system allows a computer application to designate alternate versions of screens, or views of particular information items, for displaying on an output. The system selectively displays one of the versions during vehicle movement and the other version while the vehicle is at rest. For a particular screen, one version is preferably a full functionality version, which contains all information (e.g., full text of an Internet news story) or available actions (e.g., a fully active menu) associated with the screen, while a second version is preferably a limited functionality version containing only a summary of the information (e.g., a portion of the title of an Internet news story) or a limited number of available actions (e.g., a menu with disabled options). The limited functionality version of the screen allows for quick retrieval of visual information related to the information contained in the full functionality version of the screen without distracting the driver.
The vehicle computer system may also include a text to speech engine adapted to generate audio related to information displayed on the output of the device. A preferred embodiment of the invention displays a limited functionality version of a particular screen and automatically begins generating audio through the text to speech engine based on the text of the full functionality version of the screen while the vehicle is in motion.
The present invention also provides a method of providing information to an occupant of a vehicle. In a preferred embodiment, the method comprises providing a vehicle computer system in accordance with the present invention, receiving input from an occupant, determining whether the vehicle is in motion, displaying an appropriate screen on the output, and automatically generating audio through the text to speech engine based on the current screen if the vehicle is in motion.